Born in Manchester, Hughie O’Donoghue now lives and works in rural Ireland. O’Donoghue has internationally since 1982 and is considered one of the leading painters of his generation. His work is represented in public collections, including the National Gallery, London, the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester and the Arts Council of England. The solo exhibition ‘Hughie O’Donoghue: Recent Paintings and Selected Works from the American Ireland Fund Donation’ was held at IMMA in 2009

Northern Irish poet Seamus Heaney studied at Queen's University, Belfast. His major poetry collections include Death of a Naturalist (1966), The Haw Lantern (1987) and The Spirit Level (1996). He also published works of prose, criticism and translation. Heaney received many literary prizes including the Whitbread Poetry Award, the Whitbread Book of the Year Award and the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1995. He taught at Queen's University, Harvard University, Oxford University.